King Sombra sat upon his crystal throne and gazed upon his subjects. With the passing of the old queen, it was only fitting that Sombra would now come to power. The queen didn't have any children of her own to carry on her legacy, so the task of ruling her empire fell to her bravest knight. Nopony would dare argue that there was anypony more suited to rule than the now King Sombra.
His magical prowess was unmatched by any in the empire. Nopony had ever managed to best him in the joust. He was the perfect specimen of royalty. As he sat on his throne in his red, regal robes, the citizens of the Crystal Empire knew that truely, this was their new king.
"What are your orders, your highness?" one of the King's subjects asked him. They awaited his words with baited breath. It was no doubt that he would order them to begin preparations for the next Crystal Fair. He would probably insist it be dedicated to the late queen, or perhaps he would ask for the event to be put on in his honor. Maybe he would command both themes be carried out and the largest fair to date be put on. The Crystal Ponies all held their breath as he opened his mouth.
"Stairs," he said. His subjects awaited further clarification or instruction, but their King just sat and watched them. Nopony dared move. They whispered to each other, trying to reason out what the King's word meant. They wondered what "stairs" could possibly mean. His subjects thought that perhaps the king misspoke, or that he was simply joking. They dismissed the latter option, remembering that King Sombra is not known for ribbing anyone.
"Stairs, your highness?" one brave subject finally asked. The King nodded, his smoke-like mane shifting in an unseen breeze. Black wisps detached and hung in the air behind his head briefly. King Sombra stood up from his throne and towered over his loyal subjects.
"You will build stairs for me," the King ordered. The whispers from his subjects grew louder and more frantic. They were not aware that the empire was lacking in stairs. Most of their buildings were only one story high, so there really wasn't much need for stairs. Perhaps this was the King's way of telling them they should be building their buildings taller now. Climbing stairs is also a good way to stay in shape, they thought.
"You want us to build stairs?" a subject asked.
"Yes." King Sombra stamped an armored hoof, showing his patience was wearing thin. His subjects were left to ponder why the need for stairs was so dire. They thought that King Sombra knew something they didn't. He knew something about building stairs that they needed to know.
"But, why, your highness?"
King Sombra's gaze grew distant. The new King didn't speak a word, but he just stared out over the assembly and out the window of the throne room. The lush, green landscape of the Crystal Empire stretched as far as the eye could see. All the greenery, all the clear blue skies, all the brightly blooming flowers were all a result of the happiness of the citizens of the Crystal Empire.
With his subjects watching him, King Sombra continued looking. They remembered something their queen had told them. She too, would stare out the windows for long periods of time without saying anything. When asked why, she would only say that it is because, as their Queen, she saw something different when she looked out over the landscape. She could see what was missing, what her subjects needed. She would turn to them and smile, saying that in these times of peace it was a struggle to see anything her subjects could possibly need. Everything was perfect.
The crystal ponies wondered what their new King saw when he looked out over his empire. They wanted to know what he thought they needed. His eyes were fresher and younger than the late queen's. Perhaps his vision for the empire was even grander than her's. The Crystal Ponies awaited the words from his lips that would tell them their King's vision for their future.
"You will build me stairs," he ordered. His subjects were perplexed. They couldn't fathom what was going on inside their King's head. The dark unicorn was normally taciturn, but his speech had never been so cryptic before.
"What do we need stairs for?" a subject asked.
King Sombra's horn ignited with his dark magic. His eyes boiled over with purple aura and he engulfed the throne room in a miasma of darkness. The beautiful, shining walls and floors turned black as slate. The soft, peaks of the crystals elongated into sharp spearheads. The torches burned with sickly green-blue flames as the tapestries in the castle were ripped to shreds from the sheer force of the magic. King Sombra's subjects watched in wide eyed horror as he changed the shining palace into a dark castle filled with shadows.
When he was done changing the castle's interior decorating, he turned back to his subjects.
"Every mare, stallion, and foal will build stairs for me! Those who refuse to build will be chained together and forced to walk in a line!" he shouted. The crystal ponies cowered as a peal of lighting rocked the castle. Outside, dark clouds were gathering all around.
"W-walk in a line? But walk in a line where?" somepony dared to say.
"Around!" their King ordered. "Now, build me my stairs!"
"Where should we build them, your highness?"
"Here!" King Sombra shouted, indicating to the space in front of his throne. "Build me a spiral staircase that reaches into the depths of the castle. Let it go deep, deep in to the earth until I can walk into Tartarus itself! Then at the end, you will construct a door to a stair case that will reach up into the heavens! The stairs will reach higher than any pegasus could ever hope to fly!"
"Doesn't that... seem a bit excessive?" somepony asked. King Sombra turned on the poor pony and zapped him with a bolt of dark energy. In an instant, the pony found himself with heavy shackles around his neck and legs.
"Force him to walk the castle grounds!" King Sombra ordered. Not about to defy their new King, the Crystal Ponies dragged the offender outside to make sure he walked. King Sombra then turned to his unfettered subjects. "As for everypony else, start building!"
The Crystal Ponies had no choice. They set to work on building King Sombra's stairs at once. The call was put out to every stallion, mare, and foal just as he ordered. They worked without stopping for a full day. They pleaded with King Sombra to let them rest, but he wouldn't allow it. The Crystal Ponies worked harder, thinking that if they just completed the stairs that they could return to their lives again. They toiled without end.
With every foot, yard and mile deeper the stairs went, King Sombra's joy multiplied. He took all his meals upon the finished parts of the staircase and anypony who dared disturb him while he enjoyed his stairs was shackled up and forced to walk in the ever growing, chained procession of ponies outside. Nopony was allowed to come near him if he was on the steps. If they worked too loudly at the bottom of the stairs, he would punish them. While King Sombra smiled down at the staircase with a soft, fond expression, his subjects chipped away at the end in complete silence.
One day, a pony dared to approach King Sombra while he was sprawled out upon a flight of stairs and caressing them gently. The pony reminded King Sombra that the Crystal Empire needed to hold a Crystal Fair soon in order to spread their love and happiness across Equestria.
Never had anypony seen King Sombra more incensed than on that day. In his anger, he stole the Crystal Heart away and hid it where he claimed nopony would find it. Shortly after the incident, he called an end to building the downward spiral staircase and created a magic door to where he wanted his upwards spiral staircase built.
The Crystal Ponies labored to build the staircase up and up and up into the heavens. There was only a small contingent of ponies still building inside the castle while outside the pointless and endless procession of ponies circled the empire twice over. King Sombra showed no signs of setting them free or even paying them any mind. They considered revolting against him, but too many feared that the King was far too powerful for them to overthrow. The Crystal Ponies decided they would just have to wait for a savior.
Once the second staircase had grown to a decent height, King Sombra started acting stranger than he had been acting. He would often stand at the base of either staircase and just talk to it. Often, when he talked to the old staircase, he would be apologizing profusely. He took less and less meals with the old staircase until he was spending all his time in his second staircase. He never left. He slept there, bathed there, and issued all his orders from the towering, spiral staircase. He went so far as to place a curse on the one door that lead to it, so that when he wanted to be alone with his stairs nopony could disturb them.
To King Sombra's subjects, it was obvious their king was in absolute bliss. He whiled away all his time gazing fondly at the gently sloping, high flight of stairs. He would walk up and down the completed sections and whisper compliments in soft tones. When he grew tired, he would stretch out upon the stairs and just caress a single step. It was not uncommon to see him kiss the stairs.
One day, King Sombra declared the stairs completed. He ordered the last few ponies working to build a gazebo at the top of the stairs. Right then, he stated his intention to marry the stairs. The workers decided it would be best just to do what they were told and not ask any questions.
After he the gazebo was built, he demanded to see everypony who wasn't chained up and walking in a line to have an audience with him in the throne room. He told them to gather up all the prisoners and set them free. He declared that the next Crystal Fair would be held on that day in honor of his betrothal to his second staircase. He told them to help everypony make preparations while he delivered a special gift to his bride to be. Nopony saw what the gift was exactly, but he bid them to leave as he headed for his stairs with a large, heart-shaped parcel.
The ponies who had been walking in a line to nowhere were overjoyed to be free. They all returned to their homes to begin making preparations. While the citizens were preparing at their homes, King Sombra stepped out onto his balcony for this first time since construction on the stairs began. He saw the sorry state of his empire and realized his pursuit of love had left his people in neglect. He wondered how he could have been so blind. He decided that once he was united with the steps he loved he must return the Crystal Empire to it's former state of happiness and peace.
As he was having these thoughts, two alicorns descended from the sky. Without one word of warning or why, the pair touched horns and blasted King Sombra with a wave of magic. He felt his body slipping away and morphing into something intangible. After coming so far to achieve his life's dream, he refused to let things end so quickly. He cast a spell that would place his love and the city around it into a deep slumber until he found a way to return.
That is how, for the love of stairs, the Crystal Empire fell into its slumber.
